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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XIII, Issue 201, 23 September 1878, Page 2

The "Loafer in the street" writes:— ln looking over the last number of the Country Journal the other clay, at a friend's house, I came across a very interesting article on Ferns. It appears there is a genus called Doodia. I wns reading about this sweet frond when I heard «i he voice under the window saying, in a tone of suppressed emotion, "Ob, Doodia, Doodia." On "looking out I saw a ge.itle butcher's assistant kissing the female domestic. They Do-deared a whole lot, and seemed to derive considerable satisfaction therefrom. Then I went back, and learned from the paper on Ferns that " The genus Doodia, as represented in New Zealand, is under cultivation at the Royal Gardeus at Kew." I should say people will like it. The Wellington correspondent of the H. B. Herald writes: — "The House has been a little more lively lately. The Government had rather a, warm time of it before going into Committee of Supply, and volleys of different descriptions were exchanged. Major Atkinson commenced tire attack. Mr Sheehan followed, and Mr Ormond, one of your Hawke's Bay members, pitched in all round. Wheu he does speak, which is very seldom, he lets out, and woe betide the " small fry." When the Government Bills come out of committee, I think they will more represent the views of the opposite side of the House than their own authors. It i 3 very generally felt that a dissolution is shortly inevitable."

" John Barleycorn " asks a very pertinent questiou, " What is a glass of ale ? " " This question is easily answered. But add another — What quantity does it contain?— and then comes in the perplexity. Sir, lam an old chum, and have passed through the various grades, from good old colonial sheoak to the more refined Bass No. 2, and have watched the changes from the sterling panuikin pint to the insignificent piece of transparency, about the diameter of a rifle barrel, at present in use, and am alarmed at the probable future of the glass of ale and its proportions. At the deputation of brewers in Wellington some time ago Mr Baliance, amongst other suggestions to this hardly used fraternity, actually proposed smaller glasses. Shades of Newton and the White Hart, when the old English rummer was filled to the brim and threepence not despised, to what have we come ? Beauty behind the bar. plate glass in front, decorations on all sides; but for the thing proper, oh ! what a shadow. — Advertise] 1 .

The Press thus refers to a rowdy meeting held at Chvistchurch .-—There is considerable danger of Christchurch becoming notorious for the rowdiness of its public meetings. Instead of being regarded as an example of good order by the other cities of New Zealand, we run great risk of being held up as the " terrible example," in this colony, of boohooism. The meeting in the Oddfellows' Hall, on Wednesday evening, was simply indescribable. It was held for the purpose of giving the candidates for municipal honors an opportunity of explaining their views, but scarcely any of the speaker.'! had anything like a patient hearing, and for all the good that came of it, it might just as well never have been held. Most of those who spoke did so in dumb show to the greater number of those present, and in disjected sentences to the privileged few in the front seats. Ejaculations, stampings,»howlings, and other noises sufficiently defeated every attempt to obtain a hearing. In vain his Worship the Mayor appealed to what is quaintly called an English sense of fair play. The roughs had not come for fair play, they had come for horseplay, and they had it to the full let us hope, so that there may be no need to repeat the game for twelve months to come. All this is very disgraceful, as well as very foolish. The Municipal election is an affair of importance to the city, and it is therefore most desirable that the ratepayers should have the opportunity of quietly and carefully questioning the candidates for Municipal duties. * * * * No one who is self-respectful, and we can afford to dispense with those who are not, will long consent to come before such a collection of roughs as took possession of the hall the other evening. It will be the business of the Mayor and Councillors to devise some means by which such disgraceful exhibitions may be avoided in the future,

The first hunting meeting in Otago took place near Forbury on the l Oth instant. The Canterbury hounds had been brought down jiy rail: About DOO persons, including many ladiesj ttet^ at the 1 meet, and two capital i'uris tter'e oUtained.

„A Cliristchurch telegram says:— A letter wfe read" to : f!ay ( :tt tfie lidartt of Education frnrrltrJe master of cue of the n'p-country sblitiois, in which he protested against the school being let by the committee for dancing, ami termed that body a set of ■' nincompoops." The complaint was referred to the committee.

The question of the honorarium to members which recently came before the House reminds me, says the " Loafer," or a circumstance which happened on a similar occasiou, let Us srly ih — Utopia. An hon member had dunng tUe- e.'tfly . t>;trt of the session mortgaged his honorarium: Wheat the question came on be recorded his vote rtgjimst an j sort of payment to members. A more Sii-iii-ing instance of really disinterested patriotism it would be hard to find.

The name of the Industrial School (says tile San l?raiicisco News Letter) is about to be changed to that of " College for the Propagation of Criluinala." The system of educating boys there is now so perfect that jjlh fembryo sriint fca.it fee transformed into a first-class burglar in lfcsS thrift 1 three years. The junior classes all study safe Coinbinatious. skeletons keys, and petty farffenfr, while the senior boys have to study cribcrackiug, garottiug, forgery, and grand larceny in order to graduate. It is said that at a baseball match at the Industrial School lately, there was not a visitor went home with, a pocket handkerchief, aud most of them had colds. This of itself is a proof of the high standard of discipline maintained there. Iv reference to the discussion in Com ruittee on the Electoral Bill, the N Z. Times says •.— The question of the closing of public-houses on election days was the first thing that infused any life into the debate. Mr Stout wished to follow the example of America in respect to forbidding the sale of liquor on the day when citizens were called upon to perform "the most sacred act of their lives." Mr Barff asked the gentleman in charge of the Bill whether if it was wrong to drink grog by retail it was ris?ht to drink it wholesale ? That would be the effect of the clause. Rum could be sold by the bucketful, but not by the ordinary glass. Was it true tliiit New Zeulanclers were so drunken and dissipated that they required such legislation ? Mr Moss thought that Mr Stout would wish all the public-houses closed and all the churches opened. It was an attempt to treat men like children, aud was an insult to the public Mr Pyke appealed to Mr Stout to know whether the electots who had elected him had been drunk or not. The Attorney-General replied that, lie had often seen electors drunk both before and after an election. Mr Fyke immediately ejaculated " but not at the time." Mr Keeves thought it was a slur upon the people of New Zealand to say that they could not restrain themselves. Every member of the House knew that the law forbidding the sale of liquor on Sundays was broken every Sunday in the year. The whole temper of the House showed that it was admitted to be a mistake to endeavor to make people sober by Act of Parliament. If electors wanted to procure drink they Jwould probably be able to follow the American example, and go in to " kiss the baby" in an inner room. The clause was thrown out by 31 to 22.